It is generally recognized that a criminal with a knife standing at approximately 21 feet from a law enforcement officer or other individual can potentially close the distance and stab the officer before the officer can draw his firearm to defend himself. While most law enforcement agencies have tried to graphically demonstrate this fact to their officers, many officers, particularly new officers, have failed to recognize the threat as being real and quite possibly fatal.
Because of this threat, all officers need to be able to bring their firearms into action in less than 1.5 seconds, which is the approximate time it takes for an average person to run 21 feet. Because law enforcement officers are typically required to wear a holster that will prevent a criminal from stealing their guns, and because some police officers do not have adequate time to practice their gun handling skills beyond what is required by their department, too few officers have acquired the skill to draw their gun in less than 1.5 seconds.
Although prior art moving targets are known, they are limited in their motion. Some only move laterally with respect to the shooter to train a shooter to lead a moving target. Others move by flipping about a vertical axis, to reveal a practice target that must be identified as friend or foe before deciding whether to shoot. Others flip up about a horizontal axis, providing a “pop-up” target that requires the shooter to react quickly to a target at a given location. Many automatic target carriers used at indoor and other practice ranges provide a motorized target carrier that is operated solely to allow a shooter to attach a target, send it to a selected distance, shoot at the target, and retrieve the target without having to go downrange. These operate at limited speed and are not intended for shooting during operation.
Few prior art moving target systems operate with motion toward the trainee or in any way that results in them changing their distance relative to the shooter. As a result, most do not enable an officer to practice defending against an approaching assailant. Those that do provide motion toward the shooter have practical limitations and disadvantages. Such systems are typically standard “runner” moving target systems that are designed to present a target that moves laterally for the shooter. These can be used by a user standing at one end of the target run to shoot at the approaching target.
However, these are “motorized clothesline” systems that have a powered overhead cable and pulley system. This puts critical support and operation components directly in the background of the target, making damage even from well-aimed bullets likely. Efforts to make such components more bullet resistant increases cost and weight, both disadvantages. To avoid frequent damage occurrences, the shooter may stand offset from the track, but this loses the intensive training effect of having a target coming directly at the trainee. Moreover, such prior art systems require an electrical power source. Because few outdoor shooting ranges provide AC power, this is impractical, and batteries supply only limited power for limited duration.
Therefore, a need exists for a practical moving target system with nonzero perpendicular motion vector component that can be used for providing a system for training law enforcement officers to respond to targets closing from 21 feet. In this regard, the various embodiments of the present invention substantially fulfill at least some of these needs. In this respect, the moving target system for defensive training according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of providing a system for training law enforcement officers to respond to targets closing from 21 feet in 1.5 seconds.